


It's Nice To Have A Friend

by artificialdaydream



Series: Limerence [6]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, IchiRuki Month, Ichiruki, Modern AU, Video Games AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29563680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialdaydream/pseuds/artificialdaydream
Summary: The second week of quarantine, Ichigo received a random text message from an unknown phone number that asked, "Do you play Soul Society?"
Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo
Series: Limerence [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822045
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	It's Nice To Have A Friend

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be my entry for the video games prompt of IR Month in 2020, but _of course_ I didn't finish it in time and only managed to complete it the next year. So this might not be an IR Month entry anymore, but here's an IchiRuki one-shot I managed to finish despite how busy life has been for me :) Enjoy.

Ichigo gritted his teeth in frustration; his fingers furiously pressing the keyboard while another hand clenching tightly on his mouse. His eyes darted to any edges of the screen, trying to spot possible traces of other opponents while he focused on stabbing his enemy to death. The pizza slice on the plate was long forgotten next to him as he solely fixated on the task at hand. _Just a bit more_ , he just had to hang a little longer until the skill bar was full and he could finally unleash Bankai-

_“Ichigo, you suck!”_

The loud exclamation caught him off guard; his loss of concentration gave his enemy the perfect opening to attack and led his character to his death. He groaned as he shouted back to his headphone, “Rukia, what the fuck? That was my last life!”

 _“Not my fault you’re such a loser,”_ the voice countered back, _“I told you to drink the potion before coming back! That HP was lower than Kon’s grade and you expected your character to survive with it? What a joke.”_

“I was nearing my Bankai and we could’ve won if you had just shut your trap for a second,” Ichigo retorted, “we were nearing the last stage and I was saving my potion for it, damn it!”

Now don’t misunderstand him. He wasn’t an avid gamer before this. How did he end up playing video games? Well, quarantine did wonder to people who actually had no particular activities outside their school lives. The first week of quarantine, he already spent his whole time rereading his collection of Shakespeare books and spent the rest of the day scanning his phone aimlessly.

That was until a random message from an unknown phone number started texting him a few weeks ago.

_Do you play Soul Society?_

There were many possibilities created in his mind. At first, Ichigo thought it was a prank. Or the sender had sent it to his number by accident. There was also the possibility that one of his friends had changed their number, so he decided to reply to make sure.

_Tatsuki, is that you?_

_Unfortunately, I’m not. But if you do know Soul Society and up to play, add me. My username is ChappyTheRabbit11 and I desperately need another player so I can join the latest mission._

He raised an eyebrow at the arbitrary message. Surely, Tatsuki did not have any rabbit as a pet. Even if she had, she sure as hell would never name it Chappy. Who in their right mind might come up with that ridiculous name anyway?

Ichigo was reluctant at first, but he decided to just go for it. He did play Soul Society few times with his friends; it was a popular game. He had nothing better to do and hell was he bored. So, he turned on his long-abandoned switch and logged into his game.

That was when it all started.

After few days of playing together, Ichigo figured out the sender of that text was a she, and her name was Rukia. She lived in Rungokai located three hours train away from Karakura, the town he lived. The reason she sent a message to a total stranger was her quote – dying of fourth stage symptoms of boredom – unquote.

Ichigo didn’t get it either. The first time he played the game with his friends, it wasn’t that entertaining. Hell, it was downright boring. Learning the usage of the game’s items and characters was such a pain; it took him so much time to learn the right buttons to press and he decided to drop the game rather than learning his way through.

He thought perhaps gaming wasn’t his thing. However, playing Soul Society with Rukia was never boring – he could feel the excitement each time he leveled up and he actually had fun. Every time he learned something new from her, he couldn’t wait for the next round and try out the newly found knowledge.

Days turned into weeks and he would occasionally talk with Rukia even after they finished playing for the day. They would just chat pointlessly, discussing the first thing that came to mind and whatever interesting thing they knew; even sharing memes to each other via iMessage. Once in a while they ranted their fair share of complains about their professors and the piled up online assignments – Ichigo would help Rukia in literature and physics while she would help him in biology and psychology.

They traded banters and by the next few days, they were comfortable enough to talk about themselves and the people they knew. Ichigo had even followed her on Instagram and so was she. Hell, he even knew the password to her Soul Society account – Rukia was very confident he wouldn’t actually hack his way into her account.

_“I mean,” she mused, “knowing how crappy you think my username is – which is tasteless in your naming sense, mind you – I doubt you would actually think of keeping this account and let people acknowledge ChappyTheRabbit11 as your username.”_

Well, she was right about that one. Although Ichigo wouldn’t consider hacking on her account even if she had a different name anyway – where was the fun in gaming if the level wasn’t from your own hard work?

“You know,” Ichigo began. “If the lockdown’s over, do you want to grab a coffee sometime?”

Rukia didn’t immediately answer, but he was sure she heard him. He saw her character stopped walking for a moment before she continued; defeating the enemy ahead.

_“You do know for a fact that Karakura and Rukongai are fifty miles apart, don’t you?”_

“Good thing I’m not walking, then,” Ichigo mocked. “Here in Karakura, we have this amazing transportation called the train. Ever heard of it?”

 _“Ha, ha,”_ Rukia deadpanned, _“I would think of a good retort but I’m busy winning this game._ Alone. _Because someone decided to die unheroically simply by not drinking a goddamned potion. Pathetic, don’t you think?”_

Despite knowing she wouldn’t be able to see, Ichigo rolled his eyes, “Now who’s being dramatic?” He taunted. “C’mon, midget, it’s just one stage – or are you _that_ dependent on me?”

Rukia snorted but didn’t counter him back. Instead, she decided to bring back the previous topic that abruptly stopped by her lack of focus. _“About meeting up, are you serious?”_

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t be the first one offering if I wasn’t,” he said before following up his statement, “unless, of course, you don’t want to. I mean, you don’t have to do it out of obligation or something-” The last thing he wanted was Rukia agreeing to their meetups simply because she felt bad to reject him.

 _“Calm down, we’re just going to meet each other, not getting married.”_ Rukia joked, starting to get used to his ramblings when he was getting anxious. In turn, Ichigo cleared his throat in an attempt to calm himself down just as Rukia suggested him to do.

“So is that a yes?”

Rukia hummed, “ _Depends,”_ she replied. _“Which one of us is going to hop on the train and travel fifty miles away from home?”_

“We could meet up at the center, or I’ll go to you,” Ichigo suggested. “After all, I’m the one who invited you out.”

Rukia laughed, _“Meeting at the center is the fairest option, but then no one’s able to be the tour guide.”_ She was right, Ichigo didn’t think that far ahead. _“How about we hang out in Rukongai first? I’ll show you the best waffle place in town, you won’t be able to eat waffle the same way again. Then, we can go to your town and try out any place you like.”_

“Sounds like a great idea.” Heck, it was the _perfect_ offer. He basically had already gotten the promise that they would meet at least twice. “If Rukongai has the best waffle, Karakura has the best pancake place – you haven’t lived if you haven’t tried it.”

 _“Then, I must try it.”_ Ichigo unconsciously smiled. Rukia did say she had a sweet tooth, didn’t she?

_“Before planning all that, though, you should realize by now that I’ve cleared the stage for us. Come back here and help me finish off the last boss, slowpoke.”_

Ichigo laughed, “Yes, ma’am.”

He hoped the pandemic would be over soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Then the whole movement of anti-maskers happened. LOL but really, either Ichigo met Rukia in the middle of the pandemic (so they already met by now) or they had to deal with it until 2022 maybe. I don't know. It's all up to your imagination c:
> 
> Don't forget to leave a comment below~


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